Conventional safety razors seldom meet or exceed the standard of performance of the old fashioned straight edge razor wielded by an expert barber. The reasons for this are two-fold. First, the average person usually does not properly prepare his face prior to shaving. The average shaver starts and finishes his shave with the same blade edge. It is virtually impossible to achieve a close shave without experiencing razor burn with the same razor edge.
First, one should wash or moisten the face and apply lightly a shaving base such as Noxema cream followed by regular shaving lather. The face is now ready for shaving by a single edge hollow ground razor which removes the heavy beard. Then the face should be rinsed clean of all shaving materials. With the face left moistened, one should finish the shave with a second razor namely a twin type feather edge razor. The net result of this procedure is an extremely smooth shave without razor burn that will last all day and throughout the evening.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to incorporate the characteristics and advantages of a straight edge razor into a compact safety razor which could be used in the home by the average person who does not have the skills of a barber.